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News Letter

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Thanks for all that has been & yes to all that will be.

Mydear sisters/friends, I am here to share with you my feelings of joy, fulfillment, happiness and deep sense of gratitude for the past ten years of St. Joseph’s Province of our Congregation. I cannot but thank the Good Lord for His continued guidance and protection through the constant intercession of our Mother Foundress St. Katharina Kasper, then Blessed Mary Katherine. As the Psalmist sings “If I forget you, O, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem as my highest joy” Ps.137/5

On the 1st of September 2012 at 03.20 pm, it was a great joy for us to witness the official declaration of the erection of St. Joseph’s Province by Sr. Jolise our then General Superior. Sr. Jolise looked at the proposal of bifurcating the Indian Province with much hope, courage and optimism. She walked along with us leading us forward with tender loving care. On behalf of all our sisters I express our deep gratitude to Sr. Jolise and her Team members for the trust that they have placed in us and for the support and encouragement that we experienced from them. We are also grateful to Sr. David who had been instrumental from the beginning till the end of the bifurcation process of our Province - encouraging, guiding and challenging us.


Ten years are pretty long for an individual to set things in motion and to achieve a result but it is not so with an Institution. I thank everyone of my dear Sisters of St. Joseph’s Province for the sincere co-operation with which they have trusted and supported our first Provincial Leadership Team. For all the positive things happened during the past ten years the credit goes to all of our dear Sisters, who left Bangalore Province to be part of an unestablished, perhaps unknown or half known area where everything was going to be tough and hard. The Provincial Team cannot claim the success of last ten years to it alone, the positive and constructive criticisms which came up from different quarters and which the team has accepted with required humility are some of the milestones of the growth of our Province. When we were in the travail of bringing up the newborn St. Joseph’s Province, one cannot but thank our dear Sisters for all that happened, from the naming of the Province till date.

The encouragement and appreciation we received from our different General Leadership Teams, from the different Provinces and Regions and the financial support from the Mission Foundation, for various social and developmental activities & the financial assistance from our German and American Provinces for the growth of St. Joseph’s Province need to be highlighted here. The co-operation and support from our St. Mary’s Province Bangalore was tremendous. I have not forgotten the blessings and sincere prayers of our elderly sisters for us. I take this opportunity to remember with love and gratitude our kind-hearted, noble minded benefactors: the Parish of Beverungen, Germany under the leadership of Mr. Friedel Saggel, the parish of Wirges, Germany under the leadership ofFr. Karbach, Fr. Plogmann and the team, Lion’s club and the Leonidis’ Foundation under the leadership of Mrs. Irmgard, Marian School Opladen, Mrs. Angelika & family, Kindermissionswerck, and many more generous people from Germany who have supported us.

We are indeed grateful to our dear bishop Rt. Rev. Chacko Thottumarickal SVD for accepting us and allowing us to erect our new Province in the diocese of Indore where Poor Handmaids had its first mission and beginning in India.From the initial steps of the bifurcation of the Indian Province of our Congregation in to two independent Provinces; South (St. Mary’s) and North (St. Joseph’s) we as a new Province has experienced blessings, support and appreciationfrom our Bishopswamiji.For these we cannot but appreciate with gratitude and with thankful hearts.Archbishop Leo Cornelio had been a very good inspiration and support for us in various occasions. Rev. Bishop Durairajdeserves special mention for his support and interest in the formation of our Postulants in Khandwa. Rev. Bishop Devprasad Ganava has always been a caring brother and friend for our sisters especially in Ranapur. We express our gratitude to all the diocesan and SVD priests who work in our Indore diocese for their co-operation and brotherly love and friendship.The priests from Indore, Khandwa and Jhabua dioceses who helped us to take care of our spiritual needs in different missions; Here I must mention very specially Rev. Frs. Philip O.A., Jose T.V. and Cherian Pulickal who were our parish priests in St. George Church Dhar, Rev. Fr. Lucas, Rev. Fr. Joby Anand, Rev. Fr. D’ Penna SVD and many others……….Fr. Joy Parappally of Khandwa diocese had been very keenly and with a deep family spirit taking care of our spiritual needs in Khandwa.

God worked miracles through the minds and hands of good friends & well wishers.Nosuccess would have been possible if it was not for the genuine support, hard work, adjustments, co-operation and generosity ofsome of them.If I fail to mention the names of some of the great personalities I would be really ungrateful for God’scountless blessings. Here I must take the name of Rev. Fr. Joseph Vallasserry of our diocese - a well experienced, faithful, selfless, systematic, enduring, hard working, silent & working behind the curtain like St. Joseph, God-fearing and trusted priest who had been a constant support and guidance, spending time, giving suggestions, advices etc. from the birth of the Province till today; who stood by us in joys and sorrows, in successes and failures. Fr. Joseph helped us in all purchases of properties, getting them registered, in purchasing the building materials, even if we forget or overlooksome issues , very meticulously taking care of every minute needs, finding good advocates for legal issues, civil engineer &electrical engineer, carpenters&committed, well mannered team of builders for all the construction projects. Today we are able to say proudly that we have learned from Fr. Joseph many useful lessons for life including construction work.

The road was unfriendly and filled with ups and downs, thorns and bushes, stones and hurdles; but we had to tread through. This is what we sisters did when we opted to be part of the new Province, leaving the well settled comfort zone of our former Province. We dreamt together worked together, interacted together & entrusted to fulfill the dream of establishing this Newborn Province, to a team and I am grateful that God chose me to play the role of leading that team. It was a challenge and a privilege! All of us have undergone tremendous struggles being part of this Province; but do we not feel happy and proud when we look back to see the growth and progress we have achieved and all that the Lord has done in and through all of us through the intercession St. Katharina Kasper.

During the journey of past 10 years of St. Joseph’s Province there had been countless blessings, many successes/achievements, challenges, failures…... In and through everything we experienced God’s hands at work.To continue this legacy each of us is obliged to hand down the hard work and struggles we had underwent to bring up this Province both through our sharing,orally and actively through our service to the needy in the charism of our Congregation.As I had mentioned earlier, ten years may be pretty long for an individual but very little for an Institution. We have miles to go, indefinite years to pass because we are part of the PHJC Congregation.Let us live the Legacy of our Mother Foundress St. Katharina Kasper. In the name of all our sisters, I extend my best wishes and prayer for God’s blessings in abundance upon Sr. Stella the present Provincial Superior and her Team members, to take our Province to the heights.

I love to conclude my message quoting St. James “Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. “Jas: 5/11!

May St. Katharina Kasper help us to live like her in the Will of God.